I'd sure like to see some of these "spokespersons of their generations" (not that Dylan ever claimed that for himself) refuse to accept a Medal of Freedom award from the blood-drenched hands of a George Bush or a Barack Obama or whomever our next President will be. It shows to go (sic), even avowed iconoclasts want to be honored and accepted into the fold.

Stevens deserves one for his Citizens United dissent. Twenty years from now his prudent words will be often repeated and will haunt this country.

“At bottom, the Court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt...It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.”

Ann, I was thinking about asking you this question this morning and now you put this thread up. Perfect. What is the cult like fascination with Bob Dylan, especially with the lefties? Can you educate those of us who didn't grow up here about the cultural context?

I don't know, this Medal of Freedom thingy is getting a bit much. It would seem to me this process has devolved over time. Just too many being awarded. Maybe it's just me. -----------------------------

No, it's not just you. Count me in too.--------------

Isn't this done every Wednesday? ;) I thought that is what the parties were for.

Come gather 'round Lib'rals wherever you moanAnd admit that it’s bile, not class that you've shownAnd accept it that now you've been benched, you've been boned.If your pride to you is worth savin'Better pledge your allegiance to the land you call Home'Cuz the times they are a-changin'.

Kos writers, Huff pundits who propagandize with pensSay goodbye to the prize, your chance won't come againYou spoke way too loose with your lies and your spinAnd it ‘s only yourselves you've been shamin'.You're all losers now, never more shall you winYes the times they are a-changin'.

Lib senators, congressmen defeated, recalled Pushed thru the doorways and shoved down the hallsFor he that gets kicked will be he who has stalledThere's a Tea Party outside a-ragin'.It has shaken your windows and rattled your wallsAnd the times they are a-changin'.

Earth Mothers and Fathers throughout the landYou can't analyze what you don't understandThe Sun and the Wind are beyond your commandYour Red flags are cheered on in BejingCuz you’d burn up Old Glory but not the KoranOh the times they are a-changin'.

That line at the polls, a great shadow it castsMistaken for shade, in it Unions have baskedAnd claimed only they are the true working classBut despite all the protests they’re stagin’They now fall to the rear as the Walker strides pastFor the times they are a changin’

"I remember reading 'Song of Solomon' when I was a kid and not just trying to figure out how to write but also how to be and how to think," he said in reference to Morrison's 1977 novel. "And I remember, you know, in college, listening to Bob Dylan and my world opening up, 'cause he captured something about this country that was so vital. And I think about Dolores Huerta, reading about her when I was starting off as an organizer. Everybody on this stage has marked my life in profound ways."

I'm not a Bob Dylan fan, and I'm DEFINITELY not an Obama fan, but, unless you have some kind of vision issue that requires wearing sunglasses indoors, you TAKE THEM OFF when you get a medal from the President. Any President.

"What is the cult like fascination with Bob Dylan, especially with the lefties?"

Well, gee, he was young when they were, and he totally changed pop music at a time when it really mattered... is it that hard to figure out?

The public radio show Sound Opinions did three shows about three different eras in Dylan's career which would help to answer that question as to why he was so significant culturally at a certain time... or two. Check 'em out.

Lefties don't have a fascination with Dylan- Boomers do. For those of us who've overdosed on Boomer nostalgia, it's hard to see what the big deal is.

For every boring Boomer narrative, Dylan is the soundtrack. His music evokes terribly earnest TV documentaries about the Boomer life experience, from Civil Rights to the Summer of Love to the Vietnam War. Not his fault. It's difficult to explain to Boomers just how nauseating their self-fascination is to the rest of us. I'm looking forward to a retirement free of the same music and movies that I've had to hear over and over my whole life.

Bob Dylan has done a wonderful thing by not becoming another tedious political artist, for which we owe him a debt of thanks. He really is an American hero.

The poem begins "A rock, a river, a tree" and the big screen displayed "Iraq, a river, a tree"

Granted each administration has had it's protocol embarrassments and we probably only hear about 5% of them anyway. But I just can't remember another administration in my adult lifetime that's been making unforced errors like this at every turn.

Case in point, Polish Death Camps. The president of Poland is going on national TV tomorrow in Poland to decry Obama's use of "Polish death camps" instead of "Nazi death camps in occupied Poland".

t's a sweet picture. Dylan is all dressed up in a tux that does not come close to fitting. He wants to respect the occasion. I know that seems counter to most of his career, but it's sweet. He seems humble, but not awestruck. It's just the President. He's seen a bunch of them come and go. He's an old man now. He survived the fame, the drugs, the craziness. I bet a bigger part of him is Zimmerman, before he became Dylan. I bet the whole wild ride seems strange to him sometimes, like someone else's life. How could it all have worked out like this?

I'm just a year younger than Dylan. Things start to look different from this perch. Everyone thinks done pretty much all that you are going to do. You could probably prove them wrong, but you don't want to. Probably you don't need to. Bob sure doesn't.

Apparently Little Black Jesus blathered on about what a big fan he is of Dylan. I would have loved it if Mister Tambourine Man had pulled the same trick on him that Courtney Love did when ManBearPig told her he was a fan: